Planning Commission renamed "Neeti Ayog"

India's Planning Commission will be renamed "Neeti Ayog" as part of a plan to restructure the institution that the government believes has run its course.

The name, replacing "Yojana (planning)" with "Neeti (policy)" will be announced in an amended resolution for the new plan body today, sources said.

Earlier this month, PM Modi held discussions with chief ministers on replacing the Soviet-style body with a 'Team India' concept that would give states a greater role in developing Asia's third largest economy.

The Planning Commission had suggested to a group chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that its replacement body should be structured to meet the need of changing economic paradigm and comprise sectoral experts and states' representative. The restructured plan panel could be a combination of three or four divisions.

In his first Independence Day speech in August 2014, PM Modi had indicated that the 64-year-old Commission had lost its relevance. Later, he tweeted asking for public feedback on what shape the institution should take.

It was India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, a socialist who admired Joseph Stalin's drive to industrialize the Soviet Union, who in 1950 set up - and chaired - the Planning Commission to map out a development path for India's agrarian economy.

A government-backed report suggested replacing the Planning Commission with a think tank more in line with a US-style Council of Economic Advisors.

However, the opposition Congress has criticised the plan, calling it "shortsighted and dangerous".

Some Tit - Bits on Planning Commission:

The Planning Commission is an institution in the Government of India, which formulates India's Five-Year Plans, among other functions. It is located at Yojana Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi. It was established in accordance with article 39 of the constitution which is a part of directive principles of state policy.

The composition of the Commission has undergone considerable changes since its inception. With the Prime Minister as the ex officio Chairman, the committee has a nominated Deputy Chairman, who is given the rank of a full Cabinet Minister. Presently the post of Deputy Chairman of the Commission is vacant, after the new Government in the Center.

Present ex officio members of the Commission, are the Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister, Home Minister, Health Minister, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister, Information Technology Minister, Law Minister, HRD Minister and Minister of State for Planning.

The Planning Commission's functions as outlined by the Government's 1950 resolution are following:

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CURRENT AFFAIR | Daily GK Update 31 DECEMBER 2014

1. Palestinian statehood resolution fails at UNSC

i. The UN Security Council has failed to adopt a Palestinian statehood resolution that set a deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian territories by 2017.

ii. The long-anticipated draft tabled on Tuesday night drew the support of eight countries -- Argentina, Chad, Chile, China, France, Jordan, Luxembourg, Russia -- just one shy of the nine needed to pass a resolution in the absence of a veto by any of the Council’s five permanent members.

iii. The United States and Australia opposed the resolution while the United Kingdom, Nigeria, South Korea, Rwanda and Lithuania abstained.

2. Kudankulam commercial power: SEBs to pay more per unit

i. The significance of commercial generation of power from the first unit at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project is that the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) will start charging money from the State Electricity Boards (SEBs) to which it sells the electricity.

ii. Kudankulam-1 has been declared a commercial unit from the midnight of December 31, 2014. “We are working out the tariff per unit that we will be charging from the SEBs,” a top NPCIL official said.

iii. R.S. Sundar, Site Director, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, said Kudankulam-1 had been generating its full power of 1,000 MWe from December 10, 2014.

3. Ronaldo voted Europe’s top footballer

 

i. The results of the survey showed 89 of the 144 reporters queried named the Real Madrid forward as the region’s top player,

ii. Portuguese football phenomenon Cristiano Ronaldo was voted by European sports reporters Europe’s best football player for the second year in a row.

iii. The results of the survey, carried out by Uruguay’s El Pais daily, showed 89 of the 144 reporters queried named the Real Madrid forward as the region’s top player.

iv. German goalie Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) and Argentina’s Lionel Messi (Barcelona) came in distant second and third places, with 19 and 16 votes, respectively.

4. Gmail blocked in China, Great Firewall suspected

i. Inc’s Gmail was blocked in China after months of disruptions to the world’s biggest e-mail service, with an anti-censorship advocate suggesting the Great Firewall was to blame.

ii. Almost all of Google’s services have been heavily disrupted in China since June this year, but until last week Gmail users could still access e-mails downloaded via protocols like IMAP, SMTP and POP3. These had let people communicate using Gmail on apps like the Apple iPhone’s Mail and Microsoft Outlook.

iii. The Google disruption began in the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the government’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

5. Lupin’s HIV drug gets USFDA nod

i. Drug firm Lupin has received tentative approval from the U.S. health regulator to market a generic version of Prezista tablets, used in treating HIV infection.

ii. The company has received tentative approval from the United States Food and Drugs 

Administration (FDA) to market its Darunavir Ethanolate tablets in multiple strengths in the American market, Lupin said in a statement.

iii. Last week, the company had received USFDA approval to market a generic version of ViiV Healthcare’s Epivir Tablets, used in treating HIV infection, in the American market.

6. IRDA renamed to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India

i. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was renamed as Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India on 30 December 2014.

ii. The change in name came in to effect after the promulgation of Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014, by the President of India on 26 December 2014.

iii. The amendment was done to the Insurance Regulation and Development Act, 1999 by inserting the words India after Development Authority in Section 105 of the Ordinance amends section 2 (1)(b) of the IRDA Act.

7. Union Government signed 75 million dollar loan deal with ADB for KIUWMIP

i. Union Government on 30 December 2014 signed a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for 75 million dollar and 1.8 million dollar grant for Karnataka Integrated Urban Water Management Investment Program (KIUWMIP).

ii. The funds will be used to improve water resource management in three towns of Karnataka, namely Byadagi, Davanagere and Harihar in the Upper Tungabhadra sub-basin.

iii. This project will help increase water treatment capacity by 15000 cubic meters per day.

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GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Here we are providing you the latest GK Questions asked in Currently held Government exams..........

So, there is the list of questions that you all must read so that you can easily learn the pattern that the exam follows.....

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List of Important Organizations and their Headquarters

Hey there is the List of Important Organizations and their Headquarters , which were being asked in various competitive exams now a day  . This list will be helpful for your upcoming competitive exams . We sorted the names based on the Headquarters so that it will be more easier for you to remember . This list will helpful  in your upcoming Competitive Exams . Happy Reading

  

United Nation Organisation	New York
United Nation Childrens Fund(UNICEF)	New York
United Nation Population Fund(UNFPA)	New York
United Nation Conference on Trade and Development	Geneva
World Health Organization	Geneva
International Labour Organization	Geneva
International Committee of the Red Cross	Geneva
World Trade Organization	Geneva
World Meteorological Organization	Geneva
World Intellectual Property Organization	Geneva
International Telecommunication Organization	Geneva
World Bank	Washington D.C
International Monetary Fund(IMF)	Washington D.C
International Court of Justice	The Hague
International Criminal Police Organization	Lyon
International Atomic Energy Agency	Vienna
International Civil Aviation Organization	Montral
Amnesty International	London
International Maritime Organization	London
Common Wealth of Nations	London
World Tourism Organization	Spain
Universal Postal Union	Berne
Food and Agriculture Organization	Rome
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation(SAARC)	Kathmandu
Transparency International	Berlin
International Renewable Energy Agency	Abu Dhabi(UAE)
United Nations Industrial Development Organization(UNIDO)	Vienna

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